Trident Speed Shop: Nara Prefecture, Japan

I wanted to continue my international hot rod theme of late and share some pictures sent to me by Ken Sakata of Trident Speed Shop from Nara Prefecture, Japan.  We first introduced you to Trident Speed Shop in Tano’s ’26 T roadster feature a few weeks back.  In an email from Ken, he told me that Trident has been in business for 10 years.  He was proud to say that he does not advertise in any magazines becaues he gets his business from word of mouth.

Tano tells me that he takes his ’26 T Roadster to Ken in Nara, which is on the opposite side of Japan from Sapporo, because Trident is the only shop he trusts with his hot rod. 

This black and white photo above is rad!  This is Ken’s roadster built in traditional hot rod style. 

I love these aircraft style windscreen frames, they really give hot rods that 1940′s traditional feel dont they?

Ken says he loves the speed culture.  Hot Rods are very important in his life and he especially respects hot rodders.

Here is Ken lubing crank bearings during reassembly.  Anyone know what kind of engine this is?  4 cylinder, possibly a Model A or B?

I love these old drum brakes.  Form and Function in one object. 

This shot is particularly cool!  Two classic automotive forms of Americana deep inside Japan.  Check out the Japanese writing on the sign and the little kei cars in the background, the only evidence this is not in southern California.
 

This shot is amazing!  Beautiful green Japanese countryside and vintage American hot rod, the perfect combination. 

Ken says “I love Ford hot rods, because I wanna say “Eat my Ford Dust “   haha”.  Ken says driving his Trident Speed Shop built roadster gives him a sense of freedom.  I can see why.  Open top 80 year old hot rod with a dual carbed small block V8 with lakes pipes sounding off, now that’s my kind of freedom.  The only thing Ken is missing is to experience his hot rod freedom on the Bonneville Salt Flats or a California dry lake bed. 

Ken doing his thing.  Freedom needs fireworks right?  Sparks being launched from grinding metal is the only way to celebrate Freedom!  Because they are so far from old junkyards, swap meets or speed parts manufacturers, Ken and other international hot rod builders have to make do with ingenuity, fabrication skills and dedication.

Ah yes, whether in SoCal or Japan, an aluminum headed Flathead V8 with dual carbs is one of my favorite engine choices for a traditional hot rod.

Another artistic black and white photo, this time dig some Lakes Pipes on a Flathead.  Wow!  Rad!

Trident Speed Shop has a Blog of their own, but its all in Japanese obviously.  To check it out CLICK HERE.  Thanks to Ken for sharing your photos and passion for the American hot rod with us. 

I know there’s many more hot rod builders around the world.  If you are outside the USA and build hot rods, customs, tuners, drifters, whatever it is, we want to see what you’re up to.  Email me at hechtspeed@myrideisme.com and we can share your story.

Hechtspeed

1 Hot Rod + 2 Countries = 3 New Friends

Sapporo, Japan is NOT what people think of as a center for hot rodding car culture and they’re right, its not.  But, there is a cool dude from Japan who’s a real hot rodder living the hot rod life.   Kiyoshi Tanomura (aka Tano) and I became Facebook friends a couple weeks ago.  I accepted Tano’s request solely because of his Profile Picture.  It was a picture of this 1926 Ford Model T roadster, built in the Traditional rod style.  I saw his Japanese name with that American hot rod picture and said to myself, “I need to find out about this guy!”

Just looking at the roadster, would you expect this to come out of Japan?  As you can imagine, the hot rod parts came from the States.  The build is a well thought out, period correct hot rod that few could achieve.  Japanese car nuts are just the type to achieve such a build.  Why?  From what little I know about the Japanese culture is they have great respect for their ancestors and history, they are very detailed oriented, even passionate about the details and seem to be natural engineers.

Tano mentions two friends from the USA who he said I needed to talk to, partly because his English is not too good and partly because Dave and Tony have played a big part in Tano building his hot rod.

Unfortunately, before Tano and his early American hot rod building buddies got the honest help they needed from Dave and Tony, they had to deal with the greedy Americans who would either not ship the parts that Tano paid for or dishonestly send crap that was unsafe or unusable.

I called Tony on the phone to get his thoughts on Tano and his hot rod since he’s  known Tano for about 4-5 years now.  Tony’s a Circle Track guy who builds modern Oldsmobile racing engines through his company called Lombardi Motorsports where he also builds hot rods and street cars in addition to racecars.

One of the parts Tony sold Tano was this rare Edmonds Oldsmobile intake manifold from the 50′s.  This manifold does not just bolt on to Tano’s 324ci V8.  Tony had to customize it some to mount it to the Olds engine while looking like a bolt on affair.  You guys ever seen this manifold before?

Tano is running Stromberg 97′s atop this Olds Rocket engine.  Ok, so the 324 was not the original “Rocket Oldsmobile” engine you say?  You are correct.  Check out this picture below showing how Tano customized and made to look period correct using these 324ci valve covers.  So cool!

As you dig on this “Oldsmobile Rocket” valve cover emblem swap, Tony pointed out that Tano is NOT your usual Japanese loyal car guy.  Duh!!!  Tano drives American, like his old F150 that Tony had to send parts to Japan to keep running.  Tano does not drive Toyotas, Nissans or Hondas, that’s for sure.

Tony says that Tano’s hot rod is more period correct than most hot rods built in the USA today.  Having been to the Salt Flats, Tano’s car would definitely fit in.

Speaking of Bonneville, I asked Tano if he had plans to attend Bonneville Speedweek someday.  He said he’s waiting for his 12 year old son Joe (pictured here learning to drive in a Custom 50′s Chevy convertible in a Japanese parking lot!!!) to get his drivers license so that he can make some runs down the Great White Dyno.  I love this picture, father and son bonding time in a 60+ year old custom!  What a cool dad you have Joe!

Here’s Tano himself, chillin’ in his rod.  Tano has done exactly what he should do with a car like this… which is drive the crap out of it!  Tano’s taken his ’26 hot rod from Sapporo in Northern Japan on a roadtrip down to the southern end of the island country and back.  Whoa!  Wicked cool!  I’m running out of adjectives here Tano.

Tano put together this image of a map next to his hot rod.  That red dot up in the north is Sapporo, where his “rod trip” began.

I will say, one of my favorite parts of traditional hot rods are the bomber seats.  Tano says these babies are from a P-38 Lightning, a WWII fighter/bomber.  Tony mentioned that these seats were chopped up and customized exactly like the boys from the late 40′s did to fit these seats in their roadsters.  Man this car oozes traditional style.

You can see in this picture below that the seats are too wide as is.  So, what do hot rodders do?  They get out the cutting torch or saw and welder and their buddies shoulder (no joke) to bend and shape the seats.  What?  Is this guy for real?!

Here you can see the old bomber seats are chopped up and will be welded back together and painted army green.

Here’s one more shot of Tano and his boy Joe.  Man!  Joe is gonna have some awesome memories!

I asked Tano when did he first become interested in American hot rods.  He said since Kindergarten or about 6 years old.

Here’s a shot taken back when the ’26 T was a work in progress.  Reminds me of Larry Volks garage, don’t you think?  Love those roadster bodies!  The frame was hand built by Tano and friends as well.

Tano and his friends are members of the “IGKNIGHTERS” club.  He’s not only a member, but he named the club and designed the club plaque.  The plaque even looks a lot like the plaques of US clubs like the Gear Grinders or Sidewinders.

Geez, I was so into Tano’s story, I almost forgot the specs:

Motor : 1956 Oldsmobile Rocket 324 SP
Carb : Stromberg 97  Tranny : Muncie 4 speed WWII P-38 Chopped Seat
1950s Aluminum Merlene Steering wheel

Front end : 42～48 Wishbone 40 Spindle 40 Drum Brakes  Model-A Leaf  Hanger  32～34 Dog bone
Rear end :  42～48 Banjo  Curtiss Hanger

Here’s some kind words from Tano’s friend Dave.

“I crossed paths first with a gent named Yoshio Nakazawa, who bumped into pics of my rail on the internet and contacted me.  He is a fanatic for mid-60′s AFX Falcons in general and the ones of Hubert Platt and Phil Bonner in particular.  Just so happened that I know them both so was able to put him in personal contact with both men… which gave him a completely wrong picture of my importance (I ain’t!) in the general scheme of things.  He gave my contact info to Kiyoshi Tanomura (call him ‘Tano’) and we went on from there.  One thing that amazes me is that these guys have huge, HUGE obstacles in their way… and they are touchingly concerned that we won’t consider them ‘real’ hotrodders!  I’ve told them both any number of times that they may be the only REAL hotrodders left.  As far as actually helping, I did very little that I can recall… buying some things for Tano that he couldn’t get here and shipping them to him.  I did put him in touch with Tony Lombardi, a wizard engine builder nearby and an Olds specialist who hand-made a lot of drive train parts for him.  In fact, I made out well on that deal anyway, because I came up with several new friends, including Tony, that I otherwise wouldn’t have had.”

It doesn’t matter where you live, if you have hot rodding in your blood like Tano does and the right friends like Dave and Tony, you can build a traditional hot rod.

Any other readers from Japan or other parts of the world who want to share your hot rod car culture experiences with us?  We want to hear about it.  Please comment below or email me at hechtspeed@myrideisme.com so we can share your story!

Hechtspeed

Legends from the Land of the Rising Sun

Japanese Legends…also known as JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) Machines, Japanese Nostalgic Cars, J Tin, you get the picture.  Domestically here in the US of A, we have classics like the 1932 Deuce Coupe, 55-57 Chevy Bel Air, 67-69 Camaro, 64 1/2-70 Mustang, etc.

In Japan, the classics are cars like the Nissan Skyline, Toyota Celica, Corolla, Datsun 510 (Bluebird in Japan) and 240Z (Fairlady Z in Japan).

JDMLegends is a new shop located in North Salt Lake, Utah.  They had their Grand Opening last July 2009.  So bummed I missed it.  Looked like a nice gathering of Japanese cars!  R33, R34 and R35 Skyline GT-R’s in Utah at once?  Cooooool!!!

JDMLegends’ specialty is hunting down your dream JDM classic (25 years old or older) located in Japan, having it inspected and legally imported into the USA, where it can be delivered as is, or have the JDMLegends’ special touch.

The owner of JDMLegends is a Japanese car nut named Trey Cobb.  Trey started Cobb Tuning.  Initially a turbo Subaru tuning specialist, now Cobb focuses on ECU tuning for many platforms, including the new Nissan GTR.

Above is the engine bay of a Toyota Celica as received by JDMLegends

…and here’s the same 1973 Celica bay after much effort by JDMLegends.  Super clean!

Here’s the 1973 (chassis code RA21) Toyota Celica ready for delivery to a happy JDMLegends customer.

What exactly is the JDMLegends special touch?  Besides super detail and clean restoration work, it includes adding modifications like a modern turbocharged engine, 5 or 6 speed transmission, fully tuned adjustable suspensions, basically a Japanese version of a  ”restomod” or “pro-touring” car.

I personally think its a perfect idea, as do their customers.

One more example of the work involved in bringing this ’73 Nissan Skyline “Kenmeri” up to JDMLegends’ standards…Here’s the engine bay of a ’73 Skyline prepped for resto work.

And this is the finished product.  Looks great.  The RB26 comes with “280hp” from the factory in 1990′s and 2000′s Skylines.  This engine transplant is similar to putting a late model fuel injected 302 ci Mustang GT engine into a 60′s Mustang.  This is where the Restomodding comes into play.  Hot Rodding at its finest! (just with a little Japanese twist)

Here’s that Skyline Kenmeri, a GT-R replica with the addition of fender flares.  I love the look of the early 70′s Japanese classics.  They have American muscle car body lines written all over them don’t you think?  Like the round dual horizontal headlights, sloping fastback roof lines, long hoods.  These cars are gorgeous!

JDMLegends is your place for importing classic J Tin and providing a one stop shop for services like restomod engines and suspensions, bodywork and paint (see the pic below of another Celica in progress) as well as parts sourcing from their contacts in Japan.

Check out their website at JDMLegends.com and add their JDMLegends Blog to your RSS feed or Google Blog Reader.  I did.  The blogs include detailed stories about restoration and modification work with pictures like those in this post.  Keep your eyes peeled here too as we’ll be featuring some of JDMLegends work in 2010.

Have a favorite classic 70′s Japanese car?  Comment below and let us know.  One of mine has got to be the Datsun 510, like this one above that was recently shipped to a lucky customer in Canada.  It too runs a late model engine, this one a Nissan Silvia SR20DET turbocharged engine pumping out 400+hp.  Now that’s a power:weight ratio I’d love to experience.

Pictures by Eric at JDMLegends

Videos from 2009 Yokohama, Japan Hot Rod Show

If there’s one show I want to attend, it’s the Mooneyes Hot Rod Custom Show in Yokohama, Japan.  I lived in Japan for a couple years and didn’t know how cool it was until I left. I lived in the heart of Tokyo in Harajuku (all the Japanese people say, ooooooohhhh) and married a wonderful Japanese woman while I was there. Her family lived close to Yokohama, so I visited the Mooneyes shop. The shop itself was kinda funny. More trinkets and beads than hot rod parts, but I’m sure they could get anything you wanted.

Mooneyes has been a well known name in speed equipment since before I was born. Their slanted eyes (what would you call them?) have to be one of the most widely used sticker to date. It’s just a cool logo!

The show, now in it’s 18th year featured all the hottest hot rods and customs from Japan, and there’s more than you’d think, as well as some well known cars from the US of A as well. Shown above is Billy Gibbons’ 1958 Thunderbird custom from a shot we took at the SoCal Speed Shop in Pomona during the LA Roadster Show in June.  SoCal built this car and several others for Billy.  Hang out at the bigger LA car shows, like the Grand National Roadster Show and you’ll see Billy.

Then, they flew over the “original” 1932 Deuce Coupe from American Graffiti…  Milner’s Coupe!  That chrome yellow hot rod was responsible for a great part of my love for cars, no doubt.  Side by side in Japan, just like they were in the movie, you could also see Falfa’s 1955 Chevy.  Bad and black and driven by Harrison Ford in the movie… although not very well!

There’s also a ton of great bikes from Japan and shipped over from the US as well.  Our friend Max Grundy had his art on display too. Hopefully we’ll have some pictures from him soon.

Without further delay, here’s some cool 18th Annual Yokokama Hot Rod Custom Show videos… just in case you couldn’t make the trip… or got lost on the way from Narita.

Teaser about the show with Music from ZZ Top:

Parade of the cars coming in… More music from ZZ Top and shots of Billy Gibbons:

No ZZ Top, but a well done video and music. It shows most of the rides and some pinstriping action too…

Past the rock & roll straight to rap music. This is a well done video collection of pictures from the show.

Did you go to the show? What did you think? Before you judge any cars, remember, these were all built 1000′s of miles away from the nearest source of American car parts or a favorite salvage yard!

Internet Barn Find #8: Japanese Cyber Evo in the Wind Tunnel

Ok, one of my dream cars would have to be the Mitsubishi Evolution.  The example in this video, The SunCyber Evo, is going after the 1 lap record at Tsukuba, home of Time Attack!  Why do I share this video with you?  A few reasons, but one is a look at how the Japanese car builders and tuners do it up right.  They are serious techies!

This is a purpose built car, but it does not compete in a race series.  It competes in Time Attack competitions, also called Lap Battles.  Most of these aero, suspension and engine parts can be bought off the shelf.  The Tsukuba track is for Japanese car nuts the top track in the world, right next to the Nurburgring in Germany.  Time Attack has started to catch on in the US and Europe in the last 2-3 years.  But, the Japanese are tops when taking a street car and making it go fast for 1 lap.

Enjoy this video.  A second video can be seen, a part #2, where the car hits the track!  You can get a glimpse into the Japanese tuning world.  You have the serious engineer types and the crazy yellow spiky hairdo of Tarzan Yamada, probably THE top Japanese Time Attack driver.  I love the Japanese car culture.  Remind me to bring you some Japanese vintage car stuff and hot rods.  Yes, they do hot rods too!

Get your Option Video’s HERE!

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